11SEP 1206HRS PST(VANCOUVER)

A frantic call was received from an Innkeeper in St. Jean pied de Port

The Lonely Shepherd of Roncesvalles

A set of keys was missing, they suspected that two of our peregrinos left St. Jean that morning without returning their keys. The set was very important as it also contained the key to the entrance and practically all locked doors. To have all the locks changed would be extremely costly and also very time consuming.  It would be best if we could assist in locating the two peregrinos and recover the keys even though we were over 9000 km away in North America.  According to our file, no onward reservations were made for them till Santiago de Compostela some 4 weeks later. We were faced with a situation that we somehow had to try to recover the keys before they were lost forever in the Pyrenees.  Two peregrinos walking towards Pamplona along the Napoleon Trail.  No cell phone contact, unaware that one of them was carrying a set of keys possibly including the master key of the Inn.  Upon reviewing their profile, we dismissed the possibility of finding them in Orrisson, Valcarlos and Hontos thus leaving only Roncesvalles and Burguete as most likely as to where they headed.  Even though the Innkeeper mentioned that he had already contacted Roncesvalles and was unable to locate them, we were not totally convinced that he was thorough enough.  Our Chief Camino Coordinator Rocio decided to try with a follow up call to the La Posada in Roncesvalles and 5 minutes later, we located the keys. Seemed that the Innkeeper was so frantic that he was only asking for the guests and not for the keys. The keys were turned in at the Posada before the peregrinos left for Zubiri.  It also did not help that the Innkeeper was not Spanish speaking.  They were sent back to St. Jean the following day courtesy of a luggage courier working the Camino.

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